Chip Yost

He joined KTLA in February of 2007 and though he reports on just about everything, his passion and background are in investigative reporting.

He won the 2013 Orange County Press Club award for “best investigative story” in the broadcast/online video category for his coverage of an upholstery business allegedly not fulfilling customers’ orders.

Chip won an Emmy for a story that had him tracking down fugitives who had escaped from the Colorado Department of Corrections. He won a duPont Silver Baton (broadcast journalism’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize) for another story where he exposed how a police car could turn into a fiery death trap for officers. Chip was also awarded a Golden Mike for his KTLA report about squatters taking over homes in an upscale Riverside neighborhood.

Before joining KTLA, Chip worked as an investigative and general assignment reporter at television stations in Denver (KUSA-TV), Tucson (KOLD-TV), Yuma (KYMA-TV) and San Diego (KGTV-TV).

Chip grew up in Ohio and earned his bachelor’s degree for business administration at the University of Cincinnati. After a stint as an outside sales representative for AirTouch Communications in Los Angeles, Chip went back to school to get his master’s degree at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. If you don’t believe him, just ask to see his most recent student loan statement. He’s still paying it off.

Recent Articles

A 26-year-old Santa Ana man was sentenced to 27 years to life behind bars for luring several boys into his apartment with video games, and sexually assaulting them, authorities said Friday. Edwin Damean Echeverria pleaded guilty on Oct. 22, 2018, to 16 felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14, five counts of lewd acts upon a child and three counts of oral copulation of a minor, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. […]

Authorities are investigating after reports of an explosion Wednesday morning at a residence in an unincorporated area of Tustin. At the scene, a bomb squad unit was stationed outside of a residential building on busy Newport Avenue. Authorities were called in after someone discovered an exploded piece of a terra cotta vase in their backyard, according to Lt. Patrick Rich of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Around 9 a.m., bomb squad authorities responded to the scene, where they spoke with a resident […]

A woman was captured on video beating a McDonald’s store manager in Santa Ana recently, and police released the footage Tuesday as they intensified their efforts to catch the assault suspect. The incident began around 11 p.m. on Oct. 27, after the woman went through the drive-thru of the McDonald’s restaurant in the 1500 block of North Bristol Street, according to the Santa Ana Police Department. After getting her food, she apparently became enraged when she discovered there was not […]

A wind-driven wildfire exploded in size to 35,000 acres as it raged out of control in L.A. and Ventura counties, threatening tens of thousands of homes and spurring new evacuation orders Friday afternoon. Two fatalities were reported in Malibu that were possibly related to the Woolsey Fire Friday night, Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner Investigator Nani Cholakians said. The deaths were first discovered about 4:45 p.m. in the 33000 block of Mulholland Highway, Deputy Tony Moore of the […]

Orange County voters on Tuesday appeared to oust longtime Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas in favor of challenger Todd Spitzer, a significant shift for an office that has been repeatedly rocked by scandals in recent years. With all precincts reporting on Wednesday morning, Spitzer led Rackauckas in the race to become Orange County’s top prosecutor by nearly 6 percentage points, or more than 31,000 votes. The bitter race included months of flame-throwing between Rackauckas, who has held the position for two […]

The voting may be over, but there are still some races too close to call in Orange County. KTLA’s Chip Yost was outside the County Registrar’s Office in Santa Ana, where election officials are busy with more than 400,000 ballots still to be counted. Those ballots may be the deciding factor in many of those close races. One contest that many are watching closely is California’s 48th District race between Republican Dana Rohrabacher and Democratic challenger Harley Rouda. Wednesday afternoon, […]

A Costa Mesa fire captain who was struck and critically injured in a crash involving a suspected DUI driver while cycling over the weekend has died, officials announced Monday. Costa Mesa Fire and Rescue Capt. Mike Kreza was riding a bicycle shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday on Alicia Parkway near Via Burgos in Mission Viejo when he was struck by the driver of a van. Kreza, who was training for an Ironman triathlon, suffered apparent trauma to the head and […]

Voters in Orange County are tasked with selecting a new top law enforcement officer Tuesday to replace outgoing Sheriff Sandra Hutchens. The candidates are Undersheriff Don Barnes and Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office Senior Investigator Duke Nguyen. Hutchens, who is not seeking reelection after 10 years heading the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, has endorsed Undersheriff Don Barnes. “Orange County wants a candidate, wants a sheriff, that is qualified and experienced and that can handle issues when they come up. […]